As computers become smaller and more portable, it has become desirable to have increased ability to print to different printers from a portable computer. For example, with handheld computers approaching the size of a mobile phone, these computers and their users may often be in the vicinity of a printer that the user would like to print to, but cannot easily access. This may occur anytime the user is located away from their residence or typical workplace. One example may be the case of a user who has traveled to a different state to attend a conference and wishes to print to a printer at her hotel as well as to a printer at the conference center.
Another example involves branch printing, which is a form of printing in which a user at one location (e.g., a company headquarters) desires to print documents at a remote or branch location. Electronically sending print jobs to satellite or branch locations is a challenging task without additional support infrastructure at each location. Because such remote locations do not offer an IT footprint, it is often the requirement of the customer to enable the printing service without additional IT assets or infrastructure, which requires expensive and time-consuming maintenance.
An ideal candidate for branch printing is a business or organization that has many branches, but no centralized network to manage the print assets in each location, with each location containing a single print resource. This is seen in many places such as, for example, hospitality businesses/hotels, Internet cafes, air travel, and other businesses where small branches or satellite locations may be present.